Bedbug Control Barbican, City of London

Your Flat Is Yours to Sort, But Tell the Office

Inside the front door, arranging and paying for treatment is normally the leaseholder's business. What sits outside it, such as corridors, lobbies, stairs and bin stores, is usually managed by the estate. Your lease says where that line falls; we are pest controllers, not legal advisers, so check the wording rather than taking our word for it.

Even where a Barbican flat is entirely your responsibility, let the estate office know in writing. It costs nothing, it puts the date on record, and if a neighbour reports the same thing a month later the office can see the two reports together instead of treating each as a one-off.

A technician in branded uniform lifting a mattress to inspect the seam underneath

What Actually Crosses Between Flats

Bedbugs do not roam a large building at random. They go where people and their belongings go, and they follow gaps where they can. In a block of flats the routes worth thinking about are:

Service risers and pipe runs that pass through several flats
Gaps around skirtings on a party wall
Furniture carried along a corridor, especially a bed or sofa on its way out
Bags and coats left against a neighbour's door or in a shared cupboard

The single most common way a problem spreads along a corridor is a mattress dragged out to the bin store before anyone has treated it. Leave it where it is. We tell you if it needs to go, and how to wrap it when it does.

Treating One Flat Among Many

Both routes work in a flat on a large estate. Heat treatment clears every life stage in one visit and leaves nothing behind, which is why we often put a light residual along the edges of the rooms where a flat shares walls with others. Chemical treatment works over two or three visits and leaves a residue in the seams, joints and skirtings that keeps catching anything that emerges later.

Whichever you choose, we need to know about access before the day: where the technician parks and unloads, whether the equipment needs to go through a particular entrance, and whether the estate needs notice of anyone working in the building. The City of London borough page covers managed-access buildings in more detail.

Should the Neighbours Be Told?

If your bites started soon after a neighbour had furniture moved, or if you have seen bugs near the front door rather than the bed, tell the office so it can ask the flats either side to look. You do not have to knock on doors yourself. If the neighbours find nothing, that is useful too: it means the problem is probably confined to your home.

For a building where several flats are involved, treating them in the same week works better than treating one, then another a month later. The estate office is the natural body to coordinate that, and we can quote for it.

If you rent your Barbican flat out rather than live in it, the tenant should report to you in writing and you decide how treatment is arranged. Who pays in that case depends on the tenancy and on the cause.

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Questions

Bedbug Control Barbican — Questions

Will the estate office pay for treatment in my flat?

Usually not for the inside of a leasehold flat, but it depends on the lease and on where the bedbugs came from. Report it in writing and ask; we can supply a written note of what we found.

Do you need to treat the corridor outside my flat?

Only if there are signs there, such as spotting on the skirting by your door. Common parts are the estate's to arrange, so we would speak to them first.

Can I get an inspection before I tell the estate?

Yes. Inspections start from £120 and tell you whether it is bedbugs before you raise it with anyone.

How much will treatment for a two-bedroom Barbican flat cost?

Treatments start at £220. The figure depends on the rooms involved and whether you choose heat or chemical, and you get it on the phone before anything is booked.

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